After four straight losses, the Georgetown field hockey team (5-9, 0-3 Big East) entered the weekend with matches against conference rivals Villanova (4-10, 1-2 Big East) and Colgate (4-9, 3-1 Patriot League). After falling to the Wildcats 2-1 in overtime Friday, the Hoyas rebounded with a 3-0 Sunday win over the Raiders.

Before the Villanova game, Head Coach Shannon Soares noted the similar style shared by the Wildcats and Hoyas.

“When we watched them on film and we looked at their stats and the opponents they have played thus far, I would say they’re a pretty comparable team to us,” Soares said.

Despite this familiarity, the Hoyas fell to the Wildcats 2–1 in overtime. Georgetown scored the first goal of the game on a corner in the final minute of the half, and entered the break leading 1–0. The second half, however, was a different story, with Villanova scoring a goal to force overtime.

“We withstood a significant amount of pressure in the middle part of the second half,” Soares said. “We played great corner defense against a strong Villanova team.”

Lack of execution proved to be a key contributor to the Hoyas’ loss. The team began overtime by drawing multiple penalty corners. Those opportunities were wasted, and Villanova took advantage by scoring a breakaway goal to win the game.

“We missed opportunities on attacking penalty corner situations, on set pieces that we should have finished. There were a handful of those opportunities,” Soares said.

Two days later on Sunday, Oct. 19, Georgetown travelled back home to face Colgate at the MultiSport Facility. The Hoyas defeated the Raiders 3-0, benefitting from two goals from junior midfielder Emily Weinberg. Sophomore goalkeeper Rachel Skonecki also recorded her third shutout on the season in the resounding victory.

“We finally tested the opposing goalkeeper and we took shots as soon as we penetrated our attacking circle. That’s not something that we’ve done a lot in our past games,” Soares said.

Georgetown started the game quickly and scored two goals in the first half, the first coming from Weinberg. The junior has scored five times this season, good for the team lead in goals this season, a mark shared with sophomore forward Aliyah Graves-Brown. Weinberg has also started all 14 games for the Hoyas.

“Emily has always been a big presence for us and has done a really good job the last couple games protecting the ball in the midfield and being able to distribute and generate some attack for us,” Soares said. “I think that really proved to be true [against Colgate].”

Weinberg was also recently named to the Big East Honor Roll following the game. She is the second field hockey player to be named to the honor roll this season after Graves-Brown was named in September. Graves-Brown also scored during the Colgate game.

“Aliyah has really learned how to use her speed as a weapon and she’s starting to use it in a real tactful way,” Soares said. “I’ve been really proud of the strides that she has made over the last few games. She has been really fun to watch.”

Soares also noted how her team’s simple possession style of hockey enabled them to win.

“When you get down to the bottom of it, it’s passing and trapping. If you can’t do that then you can’t put a good game of hockey together. We were able to do that on Sunday,” Soares said.

Georgetown will have a much more difficult matchup Friday, when it faces Temple (11-5, 2-1 Big East) at the MultiSport Facility. Temple is ranked 10th in the nation and is led by senior forward Amber Youtz, who currently has 21 goals on the season. With only four games left in the season, Soares wants to maintain the positive strides her team has made this year.

“I think the last two games have been some of the best-played hockey that we’ve played thus far. We want to continue to take steps forward and continue to commit to playing the style of hockey that we have had the last two matches,” Soares said.